


What We Did On Our Summer Vacation—The I Miss You Job

by crayonbreakygal



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Summer Vacation, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 21:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14173884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: They all miss each other.  It took six months to get back together. Takes place between season one and two, and the beginning of season two.





	1. What Alec Hardison Did on His Summer Vacation

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where this came from. I have plenty of WIPs to be working on and a few long fics that I am in the process of writing. This is just one possibly scenario on what they did during those six months, their thoughts of missing everyone, and the probability of getting back together.

What We Did On Our Summer Vacation—The I Miss You Job

Takes place between season one and two, and the beginning of season two

Chapter One—What Alec Hardison Did on His Summer Vacation

Dammit, he didn’t think he’d trigger the alarm as easily as he did, but there it was.  The challenge of getting into one of the most heavily guarded buildings with a new Sterenko system that was installed a mere week before was getting on his last nerve. Hardison had to get in there first before some half-assed hacker with little experience could make a name by getting lucky.

With the triggering, Hardison pushed his way into the system, looked for its weakness and sent a very heinous virus its way, making it look for things that had nothing to do with Hardison. He’d have the information he needed for his client at the snap of his fingers once it took effect.

Ten minutes later, with information in hand on a small jump drive, Hardison was exiting the building when the alarms started to blare. He barely made it outside before the building went into lockdown.  He had played it perfectly, until he noticed the two guards heading his way.

His idea of sauntering away, not in a hurry, wasn’t going to work.  As Nate would say (he certainly was missing the mastermind right then), plan B turned into plan C really, really quickly.  Gotta be Plan D, Hardison thought as he weaved his way through the crowds of Tokyo.  One getaway vehicle later, Hardison was on his way. As fast as he could, he wiped every single camera in the vicinity, having set up an algorithm while planning the perfect heist.

Hardison was a bit sad though. He had no one to high five like he did Nate when they punched out the guys who were working with Sterling. He had no one to complain to that things didn’t go as planned like he would with Eliot. He also missed the man’s ability to punch his way out if need be.  He missed having someone to check in with him, make sure he had the con down pat like Sophie did.  Mostly, he missed Parker’s smile when a plan came together. He missed them all, even though they’d parted after pulling off a dope scheme against that asshole Blackpoole.

Hardison didn’t know what it was like to lose a child, but he did understand what it was like to lose everything. He’d been young, way too young, but he had something to make up for it. His Nana had pulled him out of the gutter at a young age, gave him a home and a purpose. Of course, that purpose was to steal from the rich to give to the highest bidder, but it paid the bills.

He smiled as he thought about telling Nate what he’d accomplished but thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to contact the older man.  He frowned when he realized that he could have been caught by those goons because he really didn’t know how to get himself out of a situation that involved physical violence. He chuckled when he thought what Sophie could have done to work her way inside, played a character that would have fluxomed the whole building all the while she was taking them for millions.  Lastly, he sighed when he realized he had no one to share in his thoughts, like he did with Parker.

He missed them. He truly missed them. He hated summer vacation. That’s what he’d taken to calling it because he wanted to think that they’d get back together eventually. They’d done too much good together to throw it all away.

 

 


	2. What I Did on My Summer Vacation, or How Many Buildings Can One Person Jump Off of in Six Months by Parker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parker hated summer vacation.

Chapter Two—What I Did on My Summer Vacation, or How Many Buildings Can One Person Jump Off of in Six Months by Parker

Parker hated, hated summer vacations when she was in school. That was a time where she’d either be under the thumb of whoever was fostering her, or she’d be on her own entirely.  Most foster families she’d encountered over her time in the system did not want kids around unless there was a chance of getting visited by Child Services.  That was the only time she got new clothes, possibly took a bath, or had someone actually smile at her. Those smiles weren’t real, the clothes would often disappear, either taken back to the store or given to another kid, and that bath where she’d soak for hours would turn into a five-minute splash before getting the heat to the water shut off. Oh, the joys of being wanted for a paycheck.

As Parker dangled off the twentieth (was that the number, she’d lost track), she thought what her friends would be doing right now.  Hardison would be hacking, Eliot would be punching, Sophie would be emoting, Nate would be drowning.  Of course, none of these actions would be good for any of them. They all needed Parker there to keep them safe. That’s what she’d decided she could do.  Her stealing could keep them safe.

The breeze lifted her hair off her face as she looked down the twenty stories to the bottom.  It felt like flying when she took off from the top. This was one of the biggest buildings she’d taken on, but she knew she couldn’t go all the way to the bottom with the gear she had with her. The plan was in place where to stop. Doing it in the dark hopefully wouldn’t get her caught. She’d planned for all the contingencies, as Nate would have explained to her.  Have plan A turn into plan B, morph into plan C, before having to settle on plan D. Never plan M. That made Parker shiver.  Don’t ever mention plan M. Nate would never explain why plan M was the worst.  He just made it all up, Parker decided.

The wind and velocity made Parker feel like she was alive for the first time in ages.  Well, since she left the team, that was.  She missed them.  She wanted to pull all of them into a hug before they departed, but by the looks they were giving each other, and the tears because yes, she did see tears in their eyes, she knew they’d never touch each other. 

They thought they could hide the fact that none of them wanted to leave the other.  It hurt in her chest, blossoming up into her neck and finally settling in her head, making it pound.  She wondered if Hardison would really look for her, whether Eliot would think about her when he pummeled someone, if Sophie would get back on that stage and cry, really cry when she thought of her.  Nate, well, she hoped that Nate would stop drinking because of her, but she knew that wouldn’t happen.

Parker missed them too much. She’d never missed anyone in her life. It was definitely a strange feeling.


	3. How Eliot Spent His Summer Vacation—Which Country Was He In?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The more jobs, the merrier. Eliot was miserable.

Chapter Three—How Eliot Spent His Summer Vacation—Which Country Was He In?

Was it Pakistan?  India?  Could have been Bangladesh, but Eliot couldn’t remember.  His small knapsack was full of sand though, so maybe it was somewhere in Africa. Or possibly left over from that other job he pulled right before he joined Leverage.  Or maybe it’s just been too many concussions to count?

Eliot decided the more jobs, the merrier.  It would keep his mind off the fact that they split up, possibly for good. They thought they’d split up after the offices were blown up, but Eliot was not one to walk away from a job that was incomplete.  And the job to take Ian Blackpoole was far from over. He walked away from a job when he wanted to walk away.  Not when someone else told him to do that. Nate had told him to go skip rope in Miami. He wasn’t going to listen this time to the man, just as he didn’t in Florida. 

Eliot works for himself, no other. He’d learned early on the more control you had over a situation, the better.  Of course, then he became a lapdog to a heinous criminal. Lesson learned to the extreme.

Pulling himself out of bed, Eliot inspected the bruises and cuts on his face and torso.  There was one deep one that probably needed stitches, but the rest were good to go. He’d need rest so that the bruises could start the healing process.  No way would he go into another job before this was done.  Except there were plenty of times Nate pushed him into going right back out there to take the punishment.  Sophie was there to pull him back, but Eliot knew that if he didn’t follow orders, didn’t obey Nate and have their backs, then someone would get hurt. No one got hurt in his group if he could help it.

Maybe he’d go on a real vacation, with sun and a beach and lots of beautiful women. Who was he kidding?  He could never sit on a beach and just soak up the sun. There had to be a purpose to sitting on a beach. Surveillance?  Why couldn’t he be hired for a job like that?

No, he sat on a not so clean bed in a filthy hovel of a motel in the middle of the summer, heat penetrating the walls, making him itch because of the lack of hygiene. 

Eliot hadn’t wanted to leave, wanted to turn right around and yell at all of them that this was crazy.  He left when he wanted to leave, and he hadn’t wanted to leave.  But none of them voiced differently.  Were they all scared?  Things needed to heal between them, but this was ridiculous.


	4. What I Did on My Summer Vacation or How I Stole Millions Worth of Art and Put It Back by Sophie Devereaux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was no joy in stealing millions. What had Nate done to all of them?

Chapter Four—What I Did on My Summer Vacation or How I Stole Millions Worth of Art and Put It Back by Sophie Devereaux

Damn Nate and his crusade.  Sophie couldn’t even con someone correctly now.  They sat there for the taking. The alarm system was a joke as were the security guards.  She’d charmed the staff completely already.  It just wasn’t a challenge anymore.  Those three paintings alone would make up for losing the Davids to Sterling.

She was broken. Sophie was literally broken by Nate and the rest of them.  She wondered what artifact Parker was stealing now.  She wondered where Hardison was hacking this week.  She wondered if Eliot had gotten himself killed yet.  And she wondered if Nate was drowning in sorrow, even after defeating that bastard Blackpoole. Or maybe he was living a normal life now.

None of them were normal and never would be. Nate pretended to be normal, but Sophie knew deep down he never was. Eliot may have looked normal and had the dates to prove it, but he would never go back to the normal he had in his youth.  Parker was never normal to begin with. Hardison could have been normal after all of this, but that would be boring, and he’d start hacking again to relieve that.

Stamping her foot on the ground, Sophie looked over the paintings, then sighed as she turned to leave.  They were there for the taking.  Maybe she should speak to the curator, tell them they needed better security measures. 

What she wanted was her team back together.  She’d told them all she was sorry for attempting to con them. Or tried to tell them she was sorry, but the words wouldn’t come out right. Only Nate knew she was sorry, and that was because he so easily could read between the lines. 

So, what could she do to get them back together?  Find Nate. That’s what she needed to do. Then her plan would all fall into place.

Only he’d fallen off the grid, so she had no idea.  Was he still in Los Angeles? Or had he decided he’d had enough of the city where his son died, and his marriage ended?  It would take research, but she’d learned a trick or two from Hardison. How hard could it be?


	5. How I Spent My Fucking Summer Vacation—Or Nate Ford’s In Rehab and It’s Just as Bad If Not Worse From Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The shakes were worse than before. Maybe missing his friends made them worse?

Chapter Five—How I Spent My Fucking Summer Vacation—Or Nate Ford’s In Rehab and It’s Just as Bad If Not Worse From Before

The shakes were always the worst when he stopped drinking. Since this was the third time he’d gone through this (once before he was married, once when it came to that case and now), he knew when and how the symptoms would appear. 

It hurt down to his bones, his legs felt like jelly and his stomach was twisted all in knots to the point he couldn’t eat much at all. He’d dropped more weight, which he couldn’t afford to since for the last year his diet consisted of something of the liquid variety.  Even his brain had short-circuited.  Now that had never happened. Usually that was the last thing to shut down, which was why he drank so much in the first place.  It dulled his brain, slowed it down a touch so that he could work out theories, put contingency plans into place, and stop the racing from the multitude of points he had to consider. It focused him, sharpened him in ways he never thought possible. It made him not remember the bad things, so he could focus on the job.

Now all he could do was sit in a room, one with a bed and a chair, and not much else, and wait. Time was all he had now.  The shakes would stop, his brain would clear, he would start eating again. Things would look up.

Shit, who was he kidding?  His team was split up to the far ends of the earth. And yes, he did still call them his team because for one bright, shining moment, they were his. He was the leader of a little ragtag crew that took down anyone in their way.  It made him feel like a god, until it didn’t. Until he had to confront the one reason why they had worked together for that year.  The need for revenge.

Sophie had been correct.  They had moved to Los Angeles. They had set up their offices in Blackpoole’s backyard.  He poked at that issue for a while, trying to figure out how to set Ian up.  There would come a time for that. Nate was sure of it. The alcohol got in the way though.

His team saw through it, knew he needed revenge or closure or whatever the hell else one would call it.  Blackpoole needed to be taken down. They helped people. Nate had just turned into the client.

Only it all went to hell with Sophie’s lie.  Sterling was a step or two ahead of them, which put his team in danger.  They were thieves and grifters and hitters.  And they weren’t friends.

Until they were.  He hated to admit it, hated to tell them that he missed them all, even Sophie because she did try to con them.  He missed Hardison’s sassiness, his ability to pull information out a hat and make it work. He missed Parker’s antics, whether it be not knowing what something meant or the fact she was a loose cannon that only he could control. He missed Eliot’s hesitancy at committing violence, the fact that he questioned Nate on several instances that were completely correct and performing his job admirably if need be. He missed Sophie most of all, if just for the fact they were almost on the same side for once, even though she still was a thief at heart. He’d give the rest of his fortune just to smell her perfume once more.

He wanted his damn team back. It wasn’t going to happen. First things first.  Get over the shakes.  Get out of rehab clean.  Find a job because he was going stir crazy without one.  Find a place to live.  Figure out if he was still a good man. Not all in that particular order.  Tell his team he missed them silently in his mind until it would go away.


	6. Plan A Turns Into Plan B, Yada, Yada—Summer’s Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan to get the team back together.

Chapter Six—Plan A Turns Into Plan B, Yada, Yada—Summer’s Over

Hardison opened his email, seeing an invitation to a play in a month.

“Oh lord no. Just no. Do I have to go?” Hardison ranted in his mind.

Of course, he had to go.  It would be rude not to respond.  As he researched, Hardison realized that this could be good.  As he shut down his hacking work into the White House server, he knew it would be a good thing instead of poking the beast as he was doing right at that instant.

“Boston, here I come.”

 

Oh geez. Seriously?  Where, who, how’d they find her?  It must have been Hardison because he said he’d been looking for her. She wouldn’t listen. She had a job to do. The diamond was just sitting there, for the taking. The Hope frickin’ Diamond.  The stuff of legends.

Parker barfed in her mouth a little when she saw from who the invitation was addressed.

“It was so bad last time. Why me?  Why us?”

She said it out loud, which eventually made her more visible to the guards at the museum. As the alarms started to blare, Parker formulated her plan of attack. Go to Boston. Find out what’s up. Make sure Sophie was alright.  Leave. Good plan.

 

Pakistan. Fucking Pakistan.  Eliot rubbed his elbow as he tried to figure out what he was going to do to get out of the situation he found himself in.  Outnumbered, outgunned. He’d faced similar circumstances plenty of times.

“Hold on. My phone. Hey, it’s buzzing.”

The bad guys all looked at each other while Eliot looked at his texts.

“Geezus. Seriously. I just, I don’t know. What do you think guys? I have this friend who is the worst actress in the world.  Should I go to see her in The Sound of Music?”

Two of the guys piped up with a “why not” while two others asked if she was hot.  Sure, Sophie was hot. That wasn’t the point. The point was it was Sophie, who was asking him to be there for her.  And he was worried the rest of them would show up.

“Hey, guys. I gotta make a flight. Let’s make this quick.”

 

Nate knew going back to Boston, to familiar ground, was the best course of action.  Staying in Los Angeles after he got clean wouldn’t be the best idea.  Besides, he had no friends left there after burning so many bridges.  And Maggie did not need to be reminded of what he’d done. So, Boston it was.

He’d be on familiar ground to regain his footing.  He found a great rental since he spent most of his money in LA on the offices and the children’s hospital donation.  He also would need a job. Not fast, but a job nonetheless.  Nate knew he was testing his limits, but he had to get back into the real world.

His contacts, the ones that he hadn’t burned in the IYS fiasco, got him an interview. What could go wrong? He’d have a decent job, a salary for the first time in almost three years, a nice place to live above a bar. Well, maybe that wasn’t the best idea he’d had, but familiarity?  He had that going for him.  It was his neighborhood, the one he’d grown up in and run the streets as a small boy.  It was cleaner too, safer, so he couldn’t run into trouble.

That damn car, the little girl, Sophie’s invitation. It was all fate.  They all were in the same city at the same time, probably set up by Sophie to come see her act and sing.  It was horrible, she was horrible, but there was a case.  A real case, a case that Nate did not want to take, be involved in or know about for his own good. He couldn’t move on, for his own good.

As he awoke from a deep slumber after getting his head bashed in by Sophie and a piece of bakeware, he thought he’d gone to heaven for just a short moment, then realized it was just Parker, in a nun habit, crunching on cereal. They’d invaded his space, his life once again. He told them to leave, to clear out, only they didn’t listen.

Between his 700 sports channels, the bar downstairs (too convenient), and Hardison parking his ass on his sofa with boards, for god’s sake, Nate knew he’d be lucky to get out of this one. Then he saw that the mob was involved. Then he agreed to do this one job. One Job, with a capital O and J for emphasis.

“Well played,” he said over his shoulder as he walked away.

“See that? He did miss us,” Sophie commented to the others.

Of course, he missed them all. Why did he spend the last six months or so in rehab and trying to find his way back to be a normal, honest person?  He’d not tell them that.  One job. That’s it.

Until it turned into him agreeing to work with them until he found a real job.  Then they (Eliot mostly) chain sawed through his wall to run cables, Hardison bought the building where he lived, and they all settled into his living room with food, monitors, and that damn painting. He did not sign up for this, except his excuses were lame and they weren’t leaving.

Nate was stuck. They all had moved to Boston, had lives now, even significant others if Sophie was to be believed (Nate hoped not).  Maybe they could do some good.

 

“So, what’d you do for your summer vacation?” Parker asked Eliot as they sat at one of the tables in McRory’s.

“We were gone for six months, Parker.  Summer vacations are three months tops,” Hardison explained.

“Well, we were gone for the summer.”

“Parker, we didn’t even know we were getting back together,” Eliot told the thief.

“I knew we would.”

Both Eliot and Hardison looked at her suspiciously.

“Hey, Sophie’s fault.”

“You two planned this,” Eliot growled.

“No planning. Maybe a phone call or two or three. We don’t plan. We make it happen.”

Hardison rolled his eyes at Parker’s antics.

“I guess getting pretend shot was kinda fun,” Eliot said as he took a drink of his beer.

“Much more fun than summer vacation.”

 


End file.
